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February 3, 2012
The Silence of a Nation of Sheep
By Bob Patterson
Does Berkeley CA need a Press Club?
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A potential motto the Press Clubs in America?
Accessories are important for a photographer's ensemble
A phalanx of OPD officers walks behind Occupy Oakland's Move-In Day March
"A Nation of Sheep," written by William J. Lederer has been on our literary radar screen for many years just because of the catchy title. When we were presented with the chance to buy a used copy in BU (Brilliant Uncirculated) condition recently, at a bargain price, we snapped it up quickly. Among the usual suspects list of places in Berkeley CA where a thrifty fellow can buy desirable additions for one's personal library at prices that won't destroy a tight budget, the number of available books that criticize American Journalism seems astoundingly high, until a proper assessment of the phenomenon is made. The University located in
That, in turn, reminded us of the fact that the World's Laziest Journalist has intended for some time to write a column about the fact that
[We can use the sexist word "boys" because we heard a recent report about a new book on KCBS that reports that there is a paucity of women in the clique of reporters covering this year's Presidential Campaign.]
Recently Police officials have been making decisions based on the fact that they don't consider some reporters for Internets based publications to be eligible for
In the San Francisco Bay Area, the big topic among journalists for the past week, was not the Romney victory in the
Citizens and media owners seem eerily silent about this latest trend in journalism; could it be that they don't care about the health and welfare of America's free press?
It would be a bit easier to write a weekend-update column, if a fellow could compare notes at an impromptu Press Club. Macy's may not tell Gimbel's what's going to go on sale next week, but journalist do talk to each other on an "this is off the record" basis and swap some information which can help determine the newsworthyness of some topics.
For instance, what if an online columnist noted that during the past week there had been some headlines online that indicated that a nuclear facility in Illinois had a bit of trouble with their hardware, the San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern California had a radioactive leak, and a big shot in Washington had announced that the next terrorist attack on the USA might come in the form of a hack attack.
Wasn't there a story recently alleging that somebody had used computers to sabotage and slow down
If there was an informal Press Club in
If other journalists thought that all these separate bits of information could be lumped together legitimately, then OK, but if they said it didn't pass the smell test, then it might be prudent to pass on the idea.
On line, anything that isn't stamped USDA approved mainstream media style patriotic information will be branded as sounding suspiciously like something being prepared for test marketing by the Amalgamated Conspiracy Theory Factory boys (rumored to be headquartered in an abandoned railroad car manufacturing facility in Emeryville CA?) and not worthy of a mention. The catch phrase for the teen years (of this century) might be: "You're on your own, pal." [Bust the unions and stress rugged individualism.]
Didn't a legendary pioneer blogger, whose handle was Plato, once predict that eventually journalism would become a game played by guys sitting in their man cave looking at a computer screen thinking they were grasping reality and making cogent remarks in a process known as "live blogging"? Don't they deserve to get a night out to break the shackles of solipsism?
Sure, it is wonderfully invigorating to see younger journalists tilting at windmills, but don't they need to hear a crusty old reporter reminding them: "Ya can't fight City Hall, kid!"? A Berkeley Press Club would help keep such idealistic young j-students grounded in reality. The flip side of the coin would be that the students could help the old war horse scribblers fathom the mysteries of the laptop.
There is one other stealth advantage to having a local Press Club where journalists can talk shop. If a writer tells his colleagues about a story he is writing and if something happens to him while he is digging for that story, then the others will be able to continue the (hypothetical alert!) the crusade that cost a life.
Wasn't columnist Dorothy Kilgallen working on an angle to the Kennedy assassination when she died suddenly?
Has IBM abandoned their use of plaques that displayed the word "THINK"?
On page 31 of the Crest Book 1962 paperback edition of "A Nation of Sheep," William J. Lederer quotes a Prince/editor from
Now the disk jockey will play the Defiant Ones' 1961 recording of "Defiant Drums," Elvis' "Rock-A-Hula Baby" and Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way." We have to go read Edward Jay Epstein's 1973 book "News from Nowhere." Have a "Cross my heart and hope to die" type week.
BP graduated from college in the mid sixties (at the bottom of the class?) He told his draft board that Vietnam could be won without his participation. He is still appologizing for that mistake. He received his fist photo lesson from a future Pulitzer Prize winner. (Eddie Adams in the AP lunch room told him to get rid of the everready case for his new Nikon F). A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter broke BP in on the police beat for a small daily in Pa. By 1975, Paul Newman had asked for Bob's Autograph.
(Google this: "Paul Newman asked my autograph" and click the top suggested URL.)
His co-workers on the weekly newspaper in Santa Monica,(in the Seventies) included a future White House correspondent for Time magazine and one of the future editors high up on the Playboy masthead. Bob has been to the Oscar ceremony twice before Oscar turned 50.
He is working on a book of memoirs tentatively titled "Paul Newman Asked for my Autograph." In the gold mining area of Australia (Kalgoorlie), Bob was called: "Col. Sanders."